'While we pray for all the victims of that terrible tragedy, let us say forcefully: invest in peace, not in war!'

World War I is a “strong warning” to reject the “culture of war” and to “seek every legitimate means to put an end to those conflicts that are still making blood flow in many regions of the world,” says Pope Francis.

“While we pray for all the victims of that terrible tragedy, let us say forcefully: invest in peace, not in war!” Francis said at the end of his Angelus address Nov. 11.

Nov. 11, 2018 marks the 100th anniversary of the signing of the armistice between Germany and the Allies in France that ended World War I in 1918.

Pope Francis quoted Benedict XV, who was pope from 1914-1922, describing war as a "useless slaughter." Benedict wrote five encyclicals and three apostolic exhortations concerning peace.

Francis also noted that the feast day of St. Martin of Tours falls on Armistice Day.

He proposed the soldier saint as a symbol of investing in peace. “He cut his cloak in two to share it with a poor man. May this gesture of human solidarity indicate to everyone the way toward constructing peace,” Pope Francis said.

Around 17 million people, soldiers and civilians, were killed during the Great War of 1914-18.

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